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Crashing chaos at the Tour de France

Yesterdays stage into Spa was marred by a multitude of crashes that saw many of the favourites on the deck and a change in the yellow jersey.

Garmin-Transitions Christian VandeVelde limps to the finish in Spa

Sylvan Chavanel of Quickstep soloed to victory with a well worked move that saw him sprint to the line and the yellow jersey with a 2 minute 57 second window back to Cancellara in second. Chavanel rides for a Belgian team and hails from France so was particularly well received at the finish line by the large crowd. He instigated a break which went clear 17kms into the days 201km stage. A group of eight formed a quickly built up a decent advantage but try as they might all were swept up bar a determined Chavanel.

Behind the Frenchman the chase was on but disaster struck on the slopes of the Stockeu descent. Rider after rider went down as total chaos reigned. It wasn’t just bikes and riders that littered the road either, motorbikes carrying the cameramen and photographers that catalogue the Tour also went down in at least three large crashes.

Among them were many of he favourites. The first ones identified were green jersey wearer Petacchi and GC favourite Andy Schleck who was seen clutching his elbow and grimacing at the side of the road in obvious distress. Teammate Matti Breschel gave him his bike and the rider form Luxembourg continued at a slow pace. As the stage continued sketchy information filtered through as to what had happened with the commentators often needed the footage from helicopters over the peloton to see who had fallen. Armstrong, Contador, Millar, Leipheimer and both Schlecks were focused on but many many more were casualties too.

At the head of affairs Chavanel pushed on but behind in the first chase group Cancellara was faced with a dilema. If he chased Chavanel he could potentially keep the yellow jersey but would be dooming team mate Andy Schleck for the overall. Schelck was several minutes behind in a group that included many teammates who were doing his best to get him back onto another group that contained among others Armstrong, Contador, Basso and Evans. Hurried discussions could be seen to take place amid the lead chasing group and Cancellara somehow (presumably out of respect for the yellow jersey) managed to contain the group which waited till all were back together.

On the run in to Spa Cancellara was often seen talking with the riders and then with the stage Commissaire where an agreement seemed to have been made. Cruising in to the finish the riders operated a go slow, filling the road but only rolling in in a display of anger against the stage profile.

This was not to the liking of all the riders. Cervelo’s Thor Hushovd (a sprint favourite) had this to say – “I feel frustrated by what happened today. Our team was working hard and we would have had a good chance for victory. I feel like they have taken something away from us today. There were a few sprinters who did not make it to the front group, but there was no reason to not contest the sprint today. Everyone made a gentleman’s agreement not to sprint, but I lost an important opportunity to try to win the stage and gain points.”

GC favourite from Garmin-Transitions Christian VandeVelde was forced to retire from the race despite finishing the stage. “I crashed once right before the Stockeu,” said Vande Velde. “Riders crashed in front of me and I wasn’t able to avoid them, so I went down.”

“We all knew it was important to be at the front over the climb and at that point, I felt ok and got back on and made it back to the front to get up Stockeu. Then another rider lost control in front of me and again, I couldn’t avoid it. I crashed and landed in a ditch. I’m not sure what I hit; I think it might have been a pole. At that point my eye was bleeding pretty badly and the pain in my side and my back was excruciating. I got back on the bike though, and was coming back with Andy Schleck. I tried to stay with that group, but the pain was too much and I couldn’t get out of the saddle to make it back on.”

“No one wants to leave the Tour de France. I worked really hard to get myself ready to be here again and I was just starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m indescribably disappointed to not be starting tomorrow.”

Teammate David Millar crashed before they even got onto the Stockeu descent but remounted and was near the head of affairs. He recounts the crashes developing – “Within only 200 meters of cresting I could see Lance fall about 10 places in front of me on a straight road. When I saw that happen I knew something wasn’t right – and that was immediately followed by my wheels disappearing from under me and my sliding across the ground. As I came to a standstill, Christian passed and asked if I was all right, to which I replied yes and got right back on my bike. At this point there were guys everywhere on the ground all around me. Only 200 meters after getting back on my bike I was faced with a Cofidis rider losing control in front of me. There was nothing I could do and I hit him and somersaulted over my handlebars, landing heavily on my ribs in a ditch thinking this time, I wasn’t fine.

Team Radioshacks directeur Johann Bruyneel commented too – “It was dangerous all day so everybody was really paying attention. But on the downhill of the Stockeu it was like something I’ve never seen. It was like ice skating. It was as if something was on the road. When we got there in the car there were people everywhere. Lance went down, Klodi went down, Levi went down but it’s just skin. They will be ok.”

GC favourite and returning champion Alberto Contador ordered his team to slow for Andy Schleck -”It was a really crazy stage. On this road it was impossible not to fall. I fell on a straight part at about 60 km/h. I saw at every turn there were people on the ground, it was impossible to go without falling.”

“As soon as I heard that Andy was behind I ordered all my teammates to stop. As I wished he’d do with me, I had to do with him. [There was disagreement] with some teams who wanted to go ahead in spite of everything, because there were many dangerous riders in front too. In the end they acted with logic and decided to stop in front too.”

Todays stage promises more fireworks as it takes in seven section of cobbles from the infamous Paris-Roubaix course. Riders will need to be at the front to avoid the crashes that will inevitably come and should the weather prove wet like yesterday then all kinds of problems will surface. Bikes can only be exchanged form the roof of a car so in the event of a crash at the front of a strung out field (again pretty inevitable) the team car could be 2 kilometres behind. It is almost certain that at least one GC favourite will potentially loose the race on this one stage. Certain riders are expected to be very strong. Cancellara won the Paris-Roubaix this year, George Hincapie has been signalling this as a stage for him although he may have to sheperd Cadel Evans, perhaps one of the riders best equipped to ride it given his background in mountain biking and even given his need to stay near the front and avoid crashes, Lance Armstrong could go well. Climbing specialists like Carlos Sastre could be in trouble and Contador and Basso will need to be very careful. Be sure to tune in for what will be a fascinating stage.